Sutter Solano among the last to reach contract deal with nurses union

Sutter Solano Medical Center remains one of five holdouts in ongoing contract talks between Sutter facilities and their nurses union.

That's because a tentative agreement has been reached with Marin County's Sutter Novato Community Hospital, union officials said.

What one Sutter hospital does has little bearing on the others, Sutter Solano spokeswoman Nancy Turner said.

"Each affiliate negotiates its own contract with the union," Turner said. "Each affiliate has its own operational issues and as a result, each of our proposals is different. What happens at Novato doesn't impact our negotiations at Sutter Solano."

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United officials announced Monday that only Sutter Solano, Alta Bates Summit in Berkeley and Oakland, Eden in Castro Valley and San Leandro and Antioch's Sutter Delta have yet to resolve their issues.

"Following a pattern that has produced agreement at a series of other Sutter facilities, a breakthrough occurred when local hospital officials decided to withdraw over 40 contract concessions the hospital had pursued for months. The result -- almost immediate agreement on a new three-year agreement," union officials said in a statement.

Novato registered nurses must still vote to ratify the pact. Membership meetings will be held soon, officials said.

The news follows similar agreements in the past year at Sutter facilities in San Francisco, San Mateo, Sonoma, Lake and Santa Cruz counties, union officials said.